Almost There
by i love frito lay
Summary: Winning a competition isn't as easy as cake. This proves so.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **Nothing, I do not own anything affiliated with That's So Raven nor its characters.

**Chapter 1**

It was Chemistry class, and Raven couldn't help it but stare at the clock. She felt like she has been sitting in her seat for a day, when in fact only half an hour passed. She sat lifelessly on her seat and rested her chin on her palm, pretending that she has been listening the whole lecture. She pulled out a notebook (something she would call her personal diary) and scribbled notes in the back page; biting the tip of her ballpen, she thought of what she could write. She then started designing a letter K, with tiny hearts bordering it. Then a letter E, and V… and I would guess you know it. Kevin. She looked proudly at what she just did and closed her notebook gently, carefully placing it at the bottommost part of her backpack. Minutes passed and Raven thought she would die from boredom then and there.

"And now class, I hope you have listened diligently as you will be given a pop quiz," Mr. Smith, their new Chemistry teacher announced as he was holding and giving out papers to each student.

_Oops. _Raven thought nervously as she was given a piece of paper by the teacher. She smiled casually to him as she thought that he had a clue that she wasn't listening. He smiled back and continued walking, handing each a paper. Raven examined it, and thoroughly studied each question. "_Who am I kidding?" _She whispered softly so that no one heard. She knew that the second the bell would ring, she would pass her paper to the teacher with nothing but guessed answers. Minutes passed, and of course, she expected it. All guessed, nothing quite sure. The bell rang as each student stood up and submitted the paper on the right part of the teacher's desk.

Raven was about to leave the door when… "Ms. Baxter, please stay. I would like to talk to you for a couple of minutes," Mr. Smith interfered.

"Good luck Rae," Chelsea said as she grabbed her books and slipped it in her bag.

"See you in the cafeteria," Eddie added.

"Well, _hopefully_ if you see me after. Yes Chels, good luck to me." Raven replied as she slid off the strap of her bag and dropped it in the floor. She pulled the chair and faced the teacher as if she knew what he was going to say.

"Raven, I'm really bothered about your behavior lately. You used to get high grades, but now it goes down. And I'm sure you don't think I'm stupid enough not to see you either daydreaming or jotting stuff, but anyway, it shows you're not participating in the class," the teacher explained.

"Look, Mr. Smith, I'm sorry. Maybe stuff just keeps bothering me, and with 'stuff', I mean _personal_ stuff. Well, anyway, I'm sorry and I'd try my best to listen next time." Raven apologized.

"Okay, as long as you would do better, no problem. But one more disappointing behavior in class, well I think a conference with your parents would be necessary," "You may go." He said as he started checking the papers.

"Thank you, and I _will _do better, I promise." Raven said as she pulled the strap of her bag to her shoulders and turned the knob of the door.

Raven stepped out of the room surprised to see a large crowd of students all gathered in front of the bulletin board. She squeezed her way and said a lot 'excuse me' until she finally saw what the all were talking about. It read on a blue piece of paper on big, bold fonts:

**Selected teachers would decide on a few talented students who are capable of joining the "2005 Talent Competiton", to be held in the auditorium at Friday, Dec. 16.**

Written in smaller fonts were, "The selected students would compete once more with other students from different schools until the (as we would call) 'champions' would be selected." Finally at the bottom it said "approach Mr. Lawler to know more".

At first Raven thought it was absurd, as memories of her not-so-successful chances flashed back to her head. As she remembered dancing in front of a janitor, well, an undercover janitor, she thought it was so thwarting. Of course, that was until she had a vision…

_The sound of applause filled the room, and Raven's hand was up high together with Kevin's hand. They took a bow as the judge said over the microphone, "Very nice Ms. Baxter and Mr. Maxwell." Raven saw herself with a huge smile across her face…_

"_Wow." _Was all Raven could think about after seeing her vision. She looked once more at the paper, scrolled her eyes, "December 16? Well, I have 2 weeks to practice!" She stated as she looked around for Kevin, hoping to see him in the tight crowd. _"Yes!" _There he was. He caught Raven looking at him and gave her a friendly wave. Unluckily for Raven, there came Alana with her posse. Alana started talking (though Raven could not really hear the words), a "Great! See you in my house tomorrow!" was all she heard as Alana said it loudly as if she wanted to rub it in to Raven.

_Yah, Great. Just Great. _Raven thought as she escaped from the crowd.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_It was chilly in San Francisco as blankets of snow nearly covered up the entire place. The month of December has brought joy to Raven, as she constantly sees kids (about the age of 5) throwing snowballs and building different sizes of snowman. As for her, it's a month of hot chocolate and fluffy blankets. _

Raven sat in her purple couch with a stereo beside her and a cup of warm milk in one hand. She got drained out from putting CDs and pushing the previous & next button. She finally planned to dance, but the problem now was the song. It was already 10:45 pm, but she thought to herself that staying up late would be worth it. It took a couple of minutes until a song finally satisfied Raven. She ejected the disk, place it in its case, and stuffed it in her bag. Closing her organizer (with a hectic schedule on it) she let out a sigh of satisfaction. She then gobbled the last of her milk and set herself onto bed. With lots of plans and thoughts in mind, her excitement hindered her from sleeping. It took a lot more cookies and milk until she finally drifted off to sleep…

_**That morning…**_

It was now a cool morning in San Francisco. Raven skipped along the stairs and sat down in the counter, making herself comfortable with a cup of hot chocolate and a plate of eggs and bacon in front of her.

"Good morning mom, dad." Raven greeted as she took a sip from her cup.

"Good morning honey," both said in unison.

Raven looked around while the room was in silence. _Seems like they have something to prepare for, too. _Tonya was reading a thick-paged law book while Victor has been reading a bundle of cookbooks. As she turned her head to the back, she saw Corey giving a lot of effort finishing his homework.

"Why Corey, I can't believe for the first time ever you _actually _thought of doing an assignment!" Raven said in astonishment as she bit of her bacon.

"Yeah, well, there's this really _hot _teacher, and all boys in our class are trying to get her attention," Corey explained proudly.

"Were leaving in 10 minutes, why didn't you do it yesterday?" Replied raven as she looked up the wall clock.

"C'mon, you know about the new video game down at the arcade! It's _heaven_ for people like me."

"Right." Raven just nodded in agreement. _"Sometimes little brothers can be really odd." _She thought to herself.

"Okay, well that's the last of it!" Tonya exclaimed as she folded the page of her book, and slammed it in contentment. "You two ready to go?" She added as she grabbed her purse.

"Yup, ready." Raven responded as she scooped the last of her scrambled eggs and popped it into her mouth. She then place the strap of her backpack on her shoulders as a sign that she _is _ready to go.

"Corey? You done with your homework?" Tonya asked as she walked to the counter and got her keys.

"Uh, yah. Just one last question. I'll catch up with you." Cory replied still concentrated on his paper.

"Well, hurry, or you're going to be late for school." Tonya notified as she and Raven walked out the door. Cory just nodded and started computing with his fingers.

_Five, six, seven… "Okay, done!" _Corey whispered to himself as he rolled up the paper in his hand and hurried outside.

_**In school…**_

The halls of Bayside were full of students either talking, planning, or making arrangements with other students. Raven opened her locker as she grabbed 2 books and carried it in one hand. She then closed her locker shut and walked herself to her next class, Biology. There in class all were talking about the competition, and Raven thought of how hard of a competition it would be. She then spotted Eddie and Chelsea in the second row, and it seemed like they were arguing.

"Hey, what are you two talking about? Are you going to join the competition too?" Raven said as she took a seat.

"Yes, and we can't just get along!" Eddie replied, exasperated.

"Well, a story about dying trees and a helpful girl has two advantages! One, a good show, and the other, it would teach everyone a good lesson!" Chelsea said, trying to prove her point.

"And that is… what? Never to do a presentation like that!" Eddie replied, still frustrated.

"Then let's see what _your _good plan is, Eddie!" Chelsea said as she crossed her arms.

"A simple rap, you know me," Eddie answered with a laugh.

"Eddie, Chelsea doesn't know how to rap," Raven reminded.

"Yeah Eddie! And you know, in the story of the dying trees, all you have to do is sway!" Chelsea reacted as she acted out the swaying.

"Well, who said you need to rap? All you have to do is go 'yo' or something," Eddie explained hoping she would consider.

"Then let's ask Raven!" Chelsea suggested as she turned to Raven. "Raven, _my best friend, _which do you think is a better plan?"

"Look, guys, I'm not comfortable making this decision… Just work it out between the both of you." Raven replied encouragingly.

"Fine. Well, Rae, who are you going to partner with?" Eddie said, desperate to change the topic.

"I don't know you guys! I mean, I had this vision with Kevin being my partner, but now he's in Alana's evil hands!" Raven exclaimed.

"Now that's weird." Chelsea commented.

"I know! When I see something in my vision, it always happens! Of course, it's the future," Raven answered hopelessly.

"You did say that it _always _happens, so maybe you'll be partners with Kevin through something else." Eddie said as he wanted to cheer up his friend.

"I hope so."

**_That Afternoon…_**

Students from different levels gathered in one room as Mr. Lawler explained everything. Raven, Eddie, and Chelsea sat in the middle aware of his showering spit.

"Now, please pay close attention as I will explain all rules." Mr. Lawler started as he passed each one a copy of the rules. "Please follow along as I read." He added.

"In the first paragraph, you would see the rules." "Each participant must show up with a pair." He read aloud the first one.

"Now all of you know that as long as you don't have any partner, you must find for one in order to enter." He explained. All nodded in response.

"Next, there must be no cheating- that's a common rule. Now you may ask in what instances could you cheat; well, no group must have the same steps. _Exactly _the same steps. Okay?" Once more, all nodded.

One raised his hand from the corner. "What if we have the same steps but we didn't know that another one has it too?"

"Like I said, exact steps. The judges would know what's unintentional and intentional." Mr. Lawler made clear. The girl from the corner nodded in understanding.

"And the last, of course, this competition requires sportsmanship. No one must destroy the reputation of another team, also no one must do anything affecting one's performance." He clarified as he looked around the room. Everyone (for the third time) nodded.

"Now, as you would see in the second paragraph, those are the consequences, the most common being disqualification. Now let's skip that and move on to the prizes." "For the third runner up, they would get $100 shopping spree, and $150 for the second, $200 for the third, and for the champion, a $250 shopping spree and they would get to star in a random commercial." By this point all students talked to each other in excitement.

"Now for the next two pages, you could self-read it at home, I expect that all of you would." Mr. Lawler verified with all participants. "Now you may go home and good luck to all of you." He greeted as he opened the door for all students.

In the hallway, the three were so eager to win the competition and they couldn't stop talking about what commercial they may endorse.

"So Rae, who are you planning to make your partner?" Chelsea asked.

"I don't know, but for now, I have to plan at home. See you guys tomorrow." Raven waved a goodbye as she walked her way to her house. Both waved in unison and went separate directions.

The truth is, Raven was really bothered about who her partner would be. Would Kevin really be her partner one way or another?


End file.
